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When we think of "climate change," we think of man-made global warming, caused by greenhouse gas emissions. But natural climate change has occurred throughout human history, and populations have had to adapt to the climate's vicissitudes. Anthony J. McMichael, a renowned epidemiologist and a pioneer in the field of how human health relates to climate change, is the ideal person to tell this story.

Climate Change and the Health of Nations shows how the natural environment has vast direct and indirect repercussions for human health and welfare. McMichael takes us on a tour of human history through the lens of major transformations in climate. From the very beginning of our species some five million years ago, human biology has evolved in response to cooling temperatures, new food sources, and changing geography. As societies began to form, they too adapted in relation to their environments, most notably with the development of agriculture eleven thousand years ago. Agricultural civilization was a Faustian bargain, however: the prosperity and comfort that an agrarian society provides relies on the assumption that the environment will largely remain stable. Indeed, for agriculture to succeed, environmental conditions must be just right, which McMichael refers to as the "Goldilocks phenomenon." Global warming is disrupting this balance, just as other climate-related upheavals have tested human societies throughout history. As McMichael shows, the break-up of the Roman Empire, the bubonic Plague of Justinian, and the mysterious collapse of Mayan civilization all have roots in climate change.

Why devote so much analysis to the past, when the daunting future of climate change is already here? Because the story of mankindâs previous survival in the face of an unpredictable and unstable climate, and of the terrible toll that climate change can take, could not be more important as we face the realities of a warming planet. This sweeping magnum opus is not only a rigorous, innovative, and fascinating exploration of how the climate affects the human condition, but also an urgent call to recognize our species' utter reliance on the earth as it is.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Urgent in tone... Offering hindsight as well as foresight, McMichael makes a strong argument for sustainability."--Publishers Weekly

"This is a book to inspire thoughts of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse-famine, plague, war and death-and how we rarely stop to realize that they ride on the winds of environmental change... Those who scoff at climatologists' predictions should take a look at historians' accounts."--Maclean's

"The book's goal is not to make predictions but to motivate change, which McMichael does by bringing into focus humanity's sensitivity to fluctuations in the natural climate system throughout history."--Science Magazine

"[Climate Change and the Health of Nations] lucidly, and at times lyrically, chronicles 200,000 years of human history through a climate lens."--Nature

"[McMichael] deftly traces the great environmental 'undercurrents that shaped the fates of civilisations, their cultures, ideologies, and power structures'. He calls for an extraordinary civilisational response. McMichael is optimistic about the world's 'mega-problem'. He tells the story for the first time of 'the historical interplay between climate change, human health, disease, and survival'. It is a magnificent treatise. It demands our attention. And action."--The Lancet, Richard Horton

"The writing is clear, unadorned, and engaging. The scholarly reach is breathtaking... This splendid book is a call to action... And if we are successful, as we must be, Tony McMichael's contributions will live on as a vital part of that legacy."--EcoHealth, Howard Frumkin

"This sober, forceful history anticipates the potential cataclysms to come, in a world that, because of man-made emissions, is warming at an unprecedented rate."--New Yorker

About the Author

Anthony John McMichael (1942-2014), was Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University. He previously was Professor of Epidemiology at the ANU and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Top customer reviews

I had assumed I would be reading how increases in temperature caused famine, disease and war. They can, but so can cooling. Climate variability, both temperature and precipitation, are what the book is really about – its history and many of the mechanisms by which it has wreaked havoc. McMichael’s impetus for the book is the concern that due to the rise in carbon dioxide caused by man, there will be warming of historically very rapid magnitude, and associated increased climate variability as well as rises in sea level.

I found it easy to get lost in this book, which I blame in part on mediocre organization, mediocre or absent charts, mediocre or absent chapter introductions and summaries. At the same time, there was much of interest. I owe McMichael this debt: I had previously encountered explanations for the “Easterlies” and “Westerlies” wind patterns, and despite supplementing what I read with internet searches I was still confused, probably because of a poor background and interest in physics; McMichael’s provides clear and simple explanations.

I just finished reading this book. This book puts together a lot of things including history, climatology, epidemiology and economics. It transcends millions of years to provide evidence of how climate change has caused many deaths and attributed these climate change to have indirectly caused civilisations to fall. It is a brilliant piece of work which was pretty heavy on climatology terms at the beginning and a number of repeats throughout the book.

This is a well done history of climate change effects on humans, not the other way round. The book depicts climate history throughout the Holocene era featuring effects on human institutional development. It's based on the premise that the past informs the future, a brave attempt that doesn't quite work.Past history is all about natural climate change whereas modern speculation, or is it hysteria, says future change is predicated on man made change. The link between the two is thin at best. Most droughts and famines occurred during cold periods.McMichael concludes with a lengthy statement: “Human induced climate change is beyond politics. “ He's right about the book which has no specifics of mitigation, but the only possible motive for such a ridiculous statement is an attempt to politicize the alarmism. However, in practice ethanol, carbon taxes, anti-energy, California renewable portfolio legislation and population control is all politics.Global warming, in practice, is 5% science and 95% politics.Prof. McMichael recognizes the fatuity of climate science certainty but not the effect of population on atmospheric CO2 or that climate “science” is mostly political. Up until the last chapter, the book is excellent. It's a more formal treatment than that of Jared Diamond.